The gem is not the largest rough diamond ever found in Canada’s Ekati mine, but it definitely is the most suited for the ‘Ekati Spirit’ name. Two years ago a 182-carat was found in the same mine, but its quality was considerably poorer that of the Ekati Spirit.
The latter is a 78-carat gem, the most significant find of Ekati in the last 13 years. It is internally flawless and it will be a really demanding task for diamond cutters to give it a nice, elegant shape without cutting off too much of the precious stone.
We don’t know who the buyer of the incredibly expensive gem is, but we do know how much he paid for the piece: no less than $2.8 million. This is a new record in the field, as the last most expensive diamond (also found in the Ekati mines) flaunted ‘only’ 10.22 carats and sold for ‘just’ $1.2 million.
